History
Motor sport has a history as long as the motor car, of over 100 years. But for the first 60 or so of those years all those involved - drivers, entrants, spectators - accepted that because the sport was dangerous, serious or fatal injuries in crashes were inevitable. The general acceptance that injury or death inevitably follows an “accident” has been common for centuries. It used to apply in road safety and aviation safety as well as in motor sport safety. Survival was regarded as a matter of luck. Thankfully, this mindset was gradually transformed, and at a few key points in history it changed dramatically.
Through research and education on injury prevention and risk management we became aware that accidents on the road, in aviation and on the race track did not need to lead to injury or death. It does not have to be that way. In the words of FIA President Max Mosley, “motor racing should not be a blood sport”. Humans are fallible and will always make mistakes, whether on the road or the track. In motor sport, where competition demands efforts close to human limits, failure will happen. But with scientific attention to the design of competition vehicles and environmental structures, it has become clear that drivers and co-drivers can be helped to walk away from crashes that once would nearly always have ended in tragedy. Even after injury has occurred, attention to rescue and medical services can greatly reduce the risk of long-term personal harm. It is in all these fields that the Australian Institute for Motor Sport Safety intends to build on past advances and make a continuing difference. The Early Days In the pioneering days of the horseless carriage, death was seen simply as an occupational hazard, and the very sport was lucky to survive the carnage of the 1903 race from Paris to Madrid. Many drivers and spectators had died before the race was stopped half way. Motor racing was also fortunate to continue after the devastating crash at Le Mans in 1955, where at least 81 spectators were killed when Levegh’s car ploughed into the crowd. More onlookers were killed in the Mille Miglia two years later. Yet, apart from a few cries to ban the sport, little was done to make it safer.
During the 1960s, FIA figures show that the death rate in Formula 1 Grand Prix events was at times as high as one death in every four crashes. But attitudes and behaviors had begun to change, aided by the new science of accident research. In 1966, Jackie Stewart had been trapped in a wrecked BRM after crashing at the high-speed Spa circuit. He was trapped and soaked in leaking fuel. Once freed, he became one of the few who realised that not only the drivers and other participants, but also the sport itself, was under threat if more was not done to increase its safety. As late as 1967, hardly a single driver of an open car in Europe or Australia – and not one Grand Prix driver – was wearing any kind of seat belt or safety harness. It was widely considered, without any analysis that it was safer to be thrown out of a crashing car. As one of the earliest accident researchers inaugural Chairman of the AIMSS, Dr Michael Henderson, investigated 221 damaging crashes at nearly 200 race meetings in Britain during the 1967 season. He included the findings in his seminal book, Motor Racing in Safety. Among other things, his convincing numbers destroyed the prevalent myth that it was better to be ‘thrown clear’. In 1967 Stewart’s BRM had a full harness fitted in direct response to Dr Henderson’s data. Soon afterwards he was driving a Matra that plunged under an Armco barrier. The new harness almost certainly saved his life. Not surprisingly, Jackie Stewart became a strong safety advocate for greater protection in race crashes. At the beginning of the 1968 season he was still the only driver using a harness in Formula One. By the end of that year, every single driver was strapped in. That same year, the lives of Brian Redman and Chris Amon were also saved by the new harnesses. Tragically, during the season Jimmy Clark was killed in a Formula Two race at Hockenheim. He was the last Grand Prix driver to be killed unconvinced and unrestrained. He flew off the circuit into trees and was ejected from the chassis tub. In his memory the Jim Clark Foundation was formed, and published a pioneering study of Grand Prix crashes from 1966 to 1972, which provided yet more convincing data on how greater safety might be attained.
Safety in motor sport was finally an issue demanding attention. The iconic Pininfarina and Ferrari companies then combined to build a race safety concept car, the Sigma Grand Prix. Based on a 1967 Ferrari F1, it was first shown in 1969 and brought into the real world several ground-breaking concepts that have since formed the basis of nearly all race vehicle design and rule-making, including: Comprehensive built-in fire protection Six-point harness restraint system Head and neck restraint system Driver’s safety cell and rollover protection, with surrounding collapsible structures to front, rear and side Crash data recording As a result of this new attention to safety, both for vehicles and for circuits, during the 1970s and 1980s the serious injury rate collapsed to fewer than one death or injury in 250 crashes. This was one of the most astonishing turnarounds in the whole history of safety. Although lives were still occasionally lost, the previous and apparently inexorable trends were reversed. The absolute number of crashes continued to climb along with more racing and endeavors to go ever faster, but casualties dramatically declined. By 1980 casualty numbers were down to the level of the late 1940s. The 1990s-2000s When Senna lost his life at Imola in 1994, it had been twelve years since a Grand Prix driver had died in a race. The previous years had told a success story for safety, and by then there may have arisen a fatal misconception: all that could be done, had been done. However, the dual fatalities of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at Imola led to a dramatic reappraisal of that complacent attitude, in the same way that Clark’s death and Stewart’s campaigning had done in 1968.
The FIA immediately took several new steps to increase motor sport safety at international level, concentrating on vehicle and circuit design and using scientific work such as impact tests to underpin a whole new set of technical regulations. Information on crash forces began to be collected by in-car Instrumentation in Europe and the USA, and new versions of experimental technologies were brought into practice. Much of the work was driven by an FIA Expert Advisory Group led by the FIA’s longstanding Chief Medical Delegate, Professor Sid Watkins. Inauguration of the FIA Institute for Motor Sport Safety In 2004, during the centenary celebrations of the FIA, the FIA Institute for Motor Sport Safety was officially inaugurated, with Professor Watkins as its first President. The Institute was established by a multi-million grant from the FIA Foundation, and continues to receive an annual grant from the Foundation. The Foundation itself was founded following sale of the commercial rights to the FIA F1 World Championship. Like the FIA Foundation, the FIA Institute is an independent body and is a separate entity from the FIA. The Institute manages non-regulatory safety activities such as research, training and medical services. In this role it took responsibility for the existing FIA Research Groups and the Training Working Group. It makes reports to the Safety Commission of the FIA and similar bodies, and is able to respond to requests for research and other activities of concern to the FIA World Motor Sport Council. It is not involved in decision-making concerning safety regulations, licensing or eligibility. The FIA Institute intends to bring about improvements in the safety of motor sport by promoting research and disseminating the results of research. It aims to encourage the rapid development of new and improved safety technologies, facilitate higher standards of education and training, and provide information on the best safety procedures, practices and technologies.
The work of the FIA Institute is aimed at motor sport safety in the following areas:
- Driver equipment
- Vehicle design
- Circuit design and spectator
- Protection
- Rescue and medical facilities
- Race control
The FIA Institute currently incorporates five research and working groups for different types of competition vehicle, an industry liaison group and a new medical faculty. For instance, current projects undertaken by the Open Cockpit Research Group include developing improved high speed barriers for use at all circuits and improved wheel tethers for formula cars to ensure that the wheels do not leave the car in an accident.
In addition, the FIA Institute:
Supports the training of officials,circuit and race personnel in safety procedures, practices and the use of equipment
Supports the protection of participants, officials and members of the public at international motor sport events
Monitors motor sport safety trends in order to identify research and regulation priorities
Encourages and campaigns on the awareness of safety issues among all those involved in motor sport.
The Institute has immediately built success in all these fields. Reference to the FIA Institute website at http://www.fiainstitute.com/ gives an insight into the scope of its activity and range of initiatives to date. The implications of its work extend well beyond international sport and into club racing, rallying and karting, and were an important influence in the foundation of the Australian Institut